Fleck 5600SXT whines when water runs

I have a problem with my water softener. When the water runs in the house the control head emits a whining sound. So far other than the sound I have no other issues but I am afraid that this is only the first sign of a larger problem. The softener was installed back in January 2009. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I know that there is the sound when it does a cleaning or regen cycle, but a whine or noise when water is running in the house.. can not say I have heard of that one..
Is it a meter unit ?
Is the sound more from the meter part if it is a metered unit?

It sounds like it is coming from the area just in front of the bypass valve that has a wire coming out of it or somewhere in the base of the unit. I'm assuming this is the location of the meter. Doesn't really tell you much though cause it looks like all the inner workings that would be subject to water flow are in this general area.

The sound it makes is similar to the sound you get when you blow up a balloon and streach the end while letting the air out. You know that whine or squeak you get? This noise would be the low pitched wine youd get by loosely streaching the end of the balloon not the high pitched whine you'd get from streaching it tightly.

Also the sound seems to be tied to the volume of water flowing thru the unit. For example it whines when toilets are flushed or the clothes washer fills up but not when a faucet or shower is running.

An idea... yours is the SXT, is there a thin part between the bypass and the valve body where a wire goes in?
Where the wire is at there is a turbin, and it could be that the turbin is not spinning as free as it should at the slower speed..
Try making sure the the line up is level.. from the valve body to the bypass... all level.. there could a little bit of an down slope and that might make the turbin wobble when it slow spins and not when it spins faster...

Was there a small cone like part put in between the valve body and the turbin assembly?

If the sound is coming from the turbin wheel, then either it is not spinning level or there is getting the wheel to make a noise when it is spinning with high flow..
Then again it could be that this is one that is going to make a noise, with out being there to heard and see... is it shooting in the dark.

Yes the thin part between the bypass valve and valve body is present. The unit as a whole has been trouble free for the 2+ years it has been installed and still is besides this new noise. I would like to believe that this one is going to be one that makes noise but I can't see how something suddenly making noises after 2 years is normal. I'm not taking anything away from your response just stating my un-educated opinion on the subject. As far as long distance troubleshooting goes, I understand how tough it is and appreciate you taking the time to help.

You might take the turbin out of the system by putting it in bypass, starting a cycle and then undoing the screws on either side... and washing out the wheel area with some hot water going in the reverse flow and see if any thing comes out, also check to see how the wheel is spinning, if there is any whabble on the shaft that it is on.
I put many ideas out, some live and some do not.... but one does not know until the idea is out there.
There is often a thing called a Flow Straightener, in the standard 5600 manual it is on page 13 of the book that I downloaded from the pantair web site on their manuals.
I can not remember if it is used on the SXT with the turbin or not.. I know that it is used with the older meter for the non digital 5600, 2510... but I did not check the SXT 2510 that I just changed over to today....
Now if yours has that part is it possible that it has moved and is not seated like it should be and is changing the flow through the turbin wheel..

The meter assembly does not come apart.
It is possible to take the assembly out and clean out by washing it out in the sink, running the water through the turbin side from both sides and then blowing through it and checking how the wheel spins on the shaft.

It is also possible that some thing has blocked a few of the holes in the flow straightener, thus putting all of the water flow through half of the holes and not all of them.

The meter assembly does not come apart.
It is possible to take the assembly out and clean out by washing it out in the sink, running the water through the turbin side from both sides and then blowing through it and checking how the wheel spins on the shaft.

It is also possible that some thing has blocked a few of the holes in the flow straightener, thus putting all of the water flow through half of the holes and not all of them.